Scientific Letter - June 2012

Edito

Dear Friends,

The June’s Scientific Letter is my first newsletter here at the Consulate General of France in Atlanta. I will be happy to keep you informed of every scientific news from here in the Southeast, as well as from the U.S. and France.

This month, scientists from Duke University (NC) discovered a gene involved in autism, schizophrenia and obesity thanks to the zebrafish.At the same time in France, researchers from the Institut Pasteur/CNRS developed a new optical approach to visualize molecules in living cells at a resolution 10 times better than that of classical microscopes.

In May, a new cancer genomic center in Emory University (Atlanta, GA), the Emory Molecular Interaction Center for Functional Genomics (MicFG) received a five-year, $4.2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to focus on protein-protein interactions in order to make significant contributions to drug discovery for the treatment of cancer.

Just a Few Cell Clones Can Make Heart Muscle, Duke University Health System (NC), 04/25/2012.Just a handful of cells in the embryo are all that’s needed to form the outer layer of pumping heart muscle in an adult zebrafish.Researchers at Duke University Medical Center used zebrafish embryos and careful employment of a new technique that allows for up to 90 color labels on different cells to track individual cells and cell lines as the heart formed.>>Learn more

VU research team’s vision study yields eye-opening results, Vanderbilt University (TN), 05/10/2012.The pulvinar, a mysterious structure buried in the center of our brains, determines how we see the world — and whether we see at all.That’s the dogma-shattering conclusion reached by Vanderbilt University neuroscientists in a report published online this week in the journal Nature Neuroscience.>>Learn more

UAB study finds sigmoidoscopy reduces colorectal cancer rate, University of Alabama at Birmingham (AL), 05/21/2012.Research conducted at the University of Alabama at Birmingham as part of a national study reveals that flexible sigmoidoscopy — a screening test for colorectal cancer that is less invasive and has fewer side-effects than colonoscopy — reduces deaths due to colorectal cancer.>>Learn more

Discovery Suggests New Combination Therapy Strategy for Basal-Like Breast Cancers, University of North Caroline Lineberger (NC), 05/21/2012.Multiple research projects – including a 2006 study conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – have used DNA microarray analysis to identify several breast cancer subtypes, including luminal A, luminal B, basal-like and HER2-enriched. Simple tests are being developed to help doctors identify these subtypes and to treat their patients in a more biologically-based way. In turn, these tests have made several studies possible that indicate that basal-like, or triple negative breast cancer, is more prevalent in African Americans than their Caucasian counterparts. >>Learn more

Gene therapy for hearing loss: potential and limitations, Emory University (GA), 04/09/2012.Regenerating sensory hair cells, which produce electrical signals in response to vibrations within the inner ear, could form the basis for treating age- or trauma-related hearing loss. One way to do this could be with gene therapy that drives new sensory hair cells to grow.>>Learn more

Scientific news from France

New ultra-thin electronic films have greater capacity also available in French, CNRS, 05/09/2012.The development of a new combination of polymers associating sugars with oil-based macromolecules makes it possible to design ultra-thin films capable of self-organization with a 5-nanometer resolution. This opens up new horizons for increasing the capacity of hard discs and the speed of microprocessors. >>Learn more

A new optical microscopy approach opens the door to better observations in molecular biology also available in French, CNRS, Institut Pasteur, 05/16/2012. Researchers from the Institut Pasteur and CNRS have set up a new optical microscopy approach that combines two recent imaging techniques in order to visualize molecular assemblies without affecting their biological functions, at a resolution 10 times better than that of traditional microscopes. Using this approach, they were able to observe the AIDS virus and its capsids (containing the HIV genome) within cells at a scale of 30 nanometres, for the first time with light. >>Learn more

Learning and memory: the role of neo-neurons revealed also available in French, CNRS, Institut Pasteur, 05/14/2012.Researchers at the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS have recently identified in mice the role played by neo-neurons formed in the adult brain. By using selective stimulation the researchers were able to show that these neo-neurons increase the ability to learn and memorize difficult cognitive tasks. This newly discovered characteristic of neo-neurons to assimilate complex information could open up new avenues in the treatment of some neurodegenerative diseases. >>Learn more

Speed-dating in organic chemistry also available in French, CEA, 05/16/2012.Researchers at the CEA have recently developed a new approach for discovering chemical reactions never observed before. Based on the miniaturization of experiments and on the use of a new high-throughput screening technique , this approach now makes it possible for researchers to carry out up to a thousand experiments a day, compared with just one before now.>>Learn more

Aging of the brain: genetic modifications now identified also available in French, Inserm, 04/16/2012.The hippocampus is a part of the brain that shrinks as we age, causing memory disorders. An acceleration of this phenomenon is one of the signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Joint international work involving French (1) research teams has shown that genetic mutations are linked to the reduction of the hippocampal volume. >>Learn more

National HIV Testing Day

National HIV Testing Day (NHTD), June 27, is an annual observance to promote HIV testing. The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) founded the day in 1995 and continues to be the lead for this observance.>>Learn more

7 south-east American and 2 French scientists have been elected as member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Observation of the solar eclipse

Credits: ESA/ROBESA’s space weather microsatellite Proba-2 observed the solar eclipse on the evening of 20 May 2012. The event was used to assess the intensity of stormy ’active regions’ across the Sun’s face and to check the performance of Proba-2’s SWAP imager.